Month: February 2017

We are using the agile strategy discipline of Strategic Doing to drive re|course forward. The discipline focuses on guiding complex conversations with simple questions.

Normally Strategic Doing workshops lst from 2-3 hours.

But who has time?

Certainly not the faculty, staff an students of ME.

So the Purdue Agile Strategy Lab has come up with a solution: Strategy Sprints. In 30 minutes re|course teams gather to discuss outcomes and pathways, the key components of effective strategy. Led by a trained Strategic Doing guide, the teams clarify an outcome with measurable characteristics and a Pathfinder Project that will move them toward that outcome.

In the course of conducting the Pathfinder, the team is generating data about what might work to improve the interaction of faculty, staff and students in ME.  The Strategy Sprint follows the basic structure. of Strategic Doing.

We are starting the transformation of ME by focusing on key touch points where faculty, students and staff can deepen their interactions.  coming out of the faculty retreat in August 2016, we identified some places to start. (You can view a brief report on our faculty retreat here.)

We are building out these teams from a core of faculty members so that they also include students and staff.  You can read more about these teams here.  In brief, here’s where we stand:

1. Lunch with Students:  We are designing a prototype lunch with students around the topic: “Getting a Job”. Learn more here.
2. Undergraduate Research: We are beginning to design a website that would present undergraduates with the research currently being conducted by the faculty. We are in the early stages of designing the wireframe. Learn more here.
3. Tutorial Rooms: This team has had a slow start. We need to improve participation among faculty, staff and students. Learn more here.
4. Community Culture: This team has moved ahead quickly with two Pathfinder Projects. We have several other exciting ideas underway. Learn more here.
5. Faculty Office Hours: we have two Pathfinder Projects underway. The first involves experimenting with relocating faculty office hours to new, more open spaces. The second Pathfinder represents an experiment. A faculty member convenes a gathering of 20 or so students for about an hour. This approach has some promise. Learn more here.

In all of these efforts, we are exploring ways to design “what’s next” for Purdue ME.  if you’re curious, and would like to join us, please do. We are using a new approach designed by the Purdue Agile Strategy Lab, called Strategy Sprints. These workshops are only 30 minutes long and they are guided  with staff from the Agile Strategy Lab.

Map of the re|course teams